


Good Company

by Morpheus626



Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27833185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: Inspired by a conversation today on the DL Server about how cute the pictures are of Roger when he’s in the middle of reading (and is interrupted for the taking of said picture.) Also written for my DL Server Bingo Card prompt: Good Company (also the title of this fic Because I Can lol.)Synopsis: Poly!Queen. Roger just wants to read. Like that’s it, for real. He just wants to read his book, in peace, until he’s done with it. That should be really easy, in theory. However, after adding in three clingy boyfriends, things get more...interesting.
Relationships: John Deacon/Brian May/Freddie Mercury/Roger Taylor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	Good Company

“Can I help you with something?” 

“No,” John smiled. “How are you?” 

Roger fought back a sigh. “Good. Enjoying my book. Or I was, at least.” 

“That’s good; I’m happy for you,” John said, still laying directly over Roger’s lap, on top of his book and hands. 

Roger nodded. “Thank you.” 

John nodded back, and for a moment, they were trapped like that, in mutual politeness. 

“Are you going to get up, so I can keep reading?” 

“Can I stay by you?” John looked up at him with the strongest puppy dog eyes, his long hair draped over the pages. 

“If you get off of my book, yes, you may,” Roger said, sighing as he leaned back onto the bed, book back up to his face as John snuggled close to his right side. “Something going on, for all of this to be happening?” 

“I can’t just want to be near you?” John asked softly, and immediately Roger kicked himself for being harsh. 

“Of course you can,” he muttered, and shifted an arm around John’s shoulders, the book held in his free hand. 

It was peaceful for a good hour, and John was happily half-asleep against him when Brian stumbled in, and dropped onto the bed over his legs.

“I’m in here,” Roger whined. 

“I know,” Brian mumbled, his mind obviously elsewhere. 

“You alright?” John asked. 

Brian shrugged. “Are any of us, really?” 

Roger shared a look with John. This was a bright, flashing sign of Brian being far too deep into his own mind, his own worries. It didn’t happen all the time, but when it did, it could overwhelm him easily.

“Well, I’m enjoying my book,” Roger replied. “And John’s company. So I’m alright. How about you, Deaky?” 

John nodded. “I’m comfortable, probably going to nap. Can’t really ask for more, can I?” 

Brian sighed deeply in response. 

“In the interest of making you feel better,” Roger offered. “And also because you are making my legs go numb-” 

“I’m not that heavy,” Brian’s smile was small, but it was there, at least.

“Yeah, and my legs aren’t that strong,” Roger joked. “I’ve got a free side, if you want to join us.” 

He had already been warm with John by him, but he was now extra warm with the addition of Brian. 

It was also harder to read. Brian hadn’t just moved up to rest by him, but had wrapped an arm around Roger’s waist, pressing his face into Roger’s side and nuzzling him like some sort of baby animal. He didn’t begrudge Brian’s trying to hide from the world in his side (who didn’t want to hide every now and again?) 

But it was making it a chore to continue his book, for sure. 

However, this had been his only goal for the Sunday: to finish his book. He wasn’t going to give up now. 

“What’re you reading?” Brian asked.

“You’re right by the front cover, you can read,” Roger said as he tried to continue to read. 

“Maybe he’s forgotten how,” John giggled. 

“Maybe I have,” Brian laughed. “What then, Rog?” 

“Then I guess you don’t find out what I’m reading,” Roger replied. “Both of you hush.” 

“We’re only talking to you,” John said. “We like hearing you talk.” 

Brian nodded and readjusted to sit up more, so his head and cloud of hair was rested on Roger’s left shoulder. “You could read aloud.” 

“I’m nearly done with the book!” 

“We can guess the bits we’ve missed,” John said. 

“Yeah, context clues should be enough,” Brian added. 

“You two are doing this on purpose,” Roger said, refusing to take his eyes off the current page. He wasn’t getting anything out of it, unable to glean any meaning while two of his sweet but frustrating boyfriends were nearly literally in his face wanting his attention. “Don’t make me kick you out of the bed.” 

“You would never,” John teased. 

Before Roger could reply, Freddie stomped in, kicked off his shoes, and climbed onto the bed. He settled squarely in Roger’s lap, his head bumping up Roger’s left hand and nearly knocking the book from it. He could barely manage it, but attempted to wrap his arms around Roger’s waist. 

“Hi,” Roger said slowly. 

“You know what I hate?” Freddie muttered bitterly. 

“No, but I bet you’re about to tell us,” Roger replied. 

Freddie peeked around the sides of Roger’s book as if just noticing Brian and John for the first time. “Right. So, all I wanted to do was shop for a bit. Window shop, if I couldn’t find anything I needed, then groceries...” 

A few minutes later, Freddie’s tale of being chased round the shops by two kind but slightly overzealous new Queen fans (who managed to steal the scarf he’d been wearing) was complete, and Roger could understand why he was upset now. 

“Vintage, wasn’t it?” 

Freddie nodded against him, and sighed miserably. “Don’t get me wrong. It made them happy, and that’s lovely to see, but I would have much rather autographed something for them!” 

“I’m sorry, Fred,” Brian said gently. “I’m sure they didn’t mean any harm, but that’s no excuse for what they did.” 

John nodded. “Lovely to have fans. Less lovely when they literally want a piece of you, apparently.” 

Freddie grumbled, and pressed his face against Roger’s thigh. “I didn’t even manage to get the groceries I had planned to pick up, I was so upset. Came straight home instead.” 

“We hadn’t made up a list for that yet, what exactly were you planning on getting?” Brian giggled. 

“I know what we keep in the pantry,” Freddie replied. “I can remember things, unlike some people in this flat.” 

“You lose your keys a few times, and suddenly you’re evil,” Brian said. “We’ve found them each time; it isn’t like they were lost forever!” 

“Stop,” Roger interrupted. “No fighting while you lot are cuddling me. If you want to fight, you’ve got to leave. I’m finishing this fucking book if it is the last thing I ever do.” 

“What are you reading?” Freddie asked.

“Oh my fucking god,” Roger muttered, but he had moved his right arm from around John’s shoulder so he could let that hand play with Freddie’s hair instead. 

“We already asked; he won’t say,” John said. “And we’d look, but we’ve both forgotten how to read and Rog here has no sympathy for it.” 

“None,” Brian said, voice heavy with faux-sadness. 

“Tragic,” Freddie laughed. “Shall I look, since I’m down here?” 

“I love you all,” Roger said slowly. He had yet to turn another page, he had damn near forgotten all what he had read prior to John joining him, and at this rate, the book would not be finished for another three days. “So I say this with love: shut the fuck up, or please go away. I want to read my book. I want to cuddle with all of you. But I need the cuddling to be quiet, if I’m also to read. Okay?” 

A beat of silence, then a soft chorus of ‘okay’ from the lads. 

“Thank you,” he said it gently; he didn’t want them hurt, he truly just wanted to be able to focus on the book. 

And it seemed to work. John settled again at his right, and after a bit was snoring lightly. 

Brian again nuzzled into his side. Roger swore he could hear the wheels still turning in Brian’s head, but he seemed actively less sad and more cozy if nothing else. 

Freddie joined John in napping, his breath warm even through the material of Roger’s jeans, his head comfortably using Roger’s thigh as a pillow. 

For another fifteen minutes, progress was made. The book was a good one, and he pondered rereading it aloud if John and Brian had actually been serious about wanting to be read to. 

It was at minute twenty it all went sour.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he muttered mostly to himself. “Utter bullshit!” 

The rest of his book had been horribly misprinted. Words printed over others, at awkward angles, some bleeding together as to be unreadable. Altogether, it was impossible to decipher without hurting his eyes. 

“Don’t like the way the story is going?” Brian asked sweetly. 

“Um...yeah. Might not bother with the rest of it,” Roger sighed. 

Brian’s hand reached up to take the book from him, and tossed it gently to the floor. “You make up the rest then, and tell us. Tell us the way it should be going.” 

“Seriously?” 

Freddie, groggy as all hell, looked up with half-open eyes and nodded. “You did a good job with the last one. You could do it again.” 

The ‘last one’ had been a small sci-fi paperback that in Roger’s mind wasn’t even worth the cheap paper it was printed on, and he had enjoyed essentially rewriting most of the story, saying it aloud to the lads each night before bed, making little notes to himself on a pad of paper so he wouldn’t forget certain bits of it. 

John yawned, nodded, and tried to snuggle even closer to him. 

“Alright. So, we’re on Mercury, right?” 

“No, I’m on you,” Freddie giggled. 

“Funny,” Roger smirked. “Anyway. We’re on Mercury, and instead of killing off the only decent character that author managed to write, we’re going to keep him alive-” 

“I like it already,” John said. “Good thing, being alive and not dead.” 

“I think this character would agree,” Roger said.

“Most people would, probably,” Brian added.

“Are you lot going to commentate on everything I make up to keep the story going?” Roger laughed. 

“At least until we fall asleep again,” Freddie mumbled, his face already back down on Roger’s thigh, a hand near his nose, the thumb rubbing at the denim of Roger’s jeans. 

“Delightful,” Roger sighed, happily this time. “You can let me know if you want something changed as I go then. Now: we’re on Mercury, and we’re saying fuck the protagonist, because he’s more boring than peeling wallpaper. But this side character we’ve brought back to life, he’s worth something. Before we go forward, let me jump back some and tell you why...” 

\---

“Aww,” Freddie smiled as he carefully got off the bed, to stand by John and Brian. “How long do you think he’s been asleep?” 

“No idea,” Brian admitted. “I was sleeping hard; I feel terrible I missed most of his story.” 

John nodded as he reached for the blanket on the end of the bed, and tossed it over Roger’s legs. “I don’t think I heard anything past the first three minutes. But I liked where he was going with it!” 

“Maybe when he wakes up he can tell us more,” Freddie said. “If he remembers any of it.” 

As they crept out of the room, Brian leaned down to pick up the book, only to wince at the state of the last few chapters. “Here’s why he was so upset. Had nothing to do with the story at all!” 

“Remember the title; we’ll go pick up a new copy while he’s out,” Freddie whispered. “And get dinner, since I didn’t get groceries.” 

“We could go get the groceries instead,” Brian noted. 

“Could, but what’s easier to carry round a bookshop? Bags of groceries or at most two bags of takeaway?” Freddie asked. 

They shut the bedroom door, and Roger cracked his eyes open. He’d been asleep, but only lightly. He hadn’t wanted to sleep too deeply, to risk moving and knocking Brian and John, or jostling Freddie. 

Now he could crawl under the blanket though, and enjoy a nap. He’d earned it, he figured. For being a sweet boyfriend, and all that. 

And when they got back, after dinner, he was going to secret himself away in a corner, and he was finishing that fucking book. 


End file.
